The September
11th National Disaster of the attack by the terrorists on the Big Apple
and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. were mega-nightmares for ordinary
folks who feel that inner peace is an important element in their lives.
From ancient times, music has acted as a prayer to bond hearts and
souls together. Especially in these hardest of times, the world needs
to listen to good music more than ever. Across the States, devoted top
artists packed up their gear and touched down at Los Angeles airport to
take part in this great event.

I arrived at the
Forum, under the hazy California sky, in the early afternoon of Sunday
October 14th. The venue is well known as the Lakers' basketball team
home stadium. (It's approximately half the size of the Madison Square
Garden in Manhattan.) There were already two monster long queues
winding along the curved sloping path to the gate entrances. Many of
the fans held the Stars and Stripes in their hands, and many wore
patriotic pins or bead decorations on their shirts.

Following the
final sound-check by music director Jeff Lorber, the house band was warming up on the
stage. The lighting team adjusted the ceiling beams to ensure a strong
visual impact for the big audience.

The doors opened
at 3 p.m. Thousands of lucky people who had managed to grab one of the
free tickets filed down into the coliseum for the next hour. According
to the stage production office, the 15,000 tickets were all gone within
20 minutes when they became available last week. Tom Frost, who lost
his beloved teenage daughter Lisa after she had boarded one of the
hijacked jetliners that was crashed into the World Trade Center, simply
expressed his deepest regrets but also his hearty appreciation for the
gathering. Everyone shed tears of heartrending sympathy for Tom's
family's strength of character.

The opener was Kenny G. With his massive hit tune "Silhouette"
followed by "Moment". His long circulating breath long, single tone
lasted for about five minutes purifying every corner of the hall.
Singer Phil
Perry's
mature and powerful tenor voice led the audience in the
Lennon/McCartney peace song "Imagine/Hey Jude". David Benoit performed a colorful melody called "After
911," especially scored for the show.

The veteran WAVE
DJ, Talaya introduced Keiko Matsui, the angelic composer who had flown in from
Tokyo. She delighted the audience with landscape melodies from her 88
keys taken from her topspin on Billboard this summer, "Deep Blue".

George
Duke sat on
the acoustic piano bench starting off his appearance with "Amazing
Grace," with Marcus Miller on bass clarinet and Harvey Mason on drums. In the next number, funky rich
electric bass groover, Marcus conducted a chorus of "Come Together".

British artist Peter White performed "America the Beautiful" solo on
his new Nashville-made blue guitar. French guitarist Marc Antoine and veteran R&B vocalist Patti Austin dueted on "Mas Que Nada" in hot spicy salsa
mode. Patti followed on with solo acappella of the gospel song "You'll
Never Walk Alone" and then "Impossible Dream".

Brenda
Russell sang
"Get Here". Rick Braun blew his trumpet on "Graze In The Grass".
The melting pot welcomed another star, Boney James on "See What I'm Saying". With the
appearance of Kirk Whalum on tenor sax, the stage explodes in a
blazing brass climax.

Avid fans all
over the arena stood to welcome the legendary vocalist, Hollywood's
Walk of Fame Al Jarreau's on stage to exercise his miracle vocal
spectrum on "God Bless America" and "We're In This Love Together,"
backed up by the Perri Sisters.

James
Ingram and
Patti Austin pushed the excitement dramatically upward with "Somewhere
Out There" and James continued with "I Believe I Can Fly" accompanied
by a large group of female singers.

Host Dave Koz
shares his excitement of responding to a late afternoon phone call from
Mr. Stevie
Wonder! Wow!
Wow! The house erupted at the unexpected appearance of the great
humanitarian from the Motown decade. His hottest contribution for these
special magical moments spins off with J. Coltrane's "Giant Steps,"
"Overjoyed" and "Ribbon In the Sky" in a seamless medley.

The time flies by
as if in a dream. In the final set, Dave invited the all-star cast to
the stage to sing "What's Going On," one of Marvin Gaye's greatest hits.

Guitars and
saxes, piano and vocals, bass and percussion all incredibly come
together in a compassion of good spirits and vibes manifested under the
roof of the stadium. The united march for celebrating World Peace has
just begun!

vocalists

Brenda
Russel / Al Jarreau

Patti
Austin / Phill Perry

James
Ingram / Stevie Wonder

The
All Star Cast! After briefing, very committed heart-felt prayer led by
saxman Kirk Whalum (seated between the ladies in the middle), the group
gets ready for grand-slamming for WAVE 94.7 peace event!

***
Special thanks to all the GREAT musicans and WAVE production team.

All
of the above photos and text (C) Jun Sato 2001 and may NOT be used without permission.

**Please be sure
to check Jun's other photographings of A WAVE OF PEACE located at